Masculinity, Transgender and Religion in Western Contexts
This week was incredibly interesting in relation to what we have done in previous weeks. What appealed to me the most was the necessity to view gender as a spectrum and not as a binary. After all, gender does not exist as something separate from other aspects that make people the individuals they are – in this sense, we cannot look only at one part of a person’s identity, especially if we consider intersectionality as well. This is in regard to different cultures and times because the view of gender can and most likely will differ at any point in history. At first, feminists were concerned with female characters in the bible and their feminist reinterpretation but the same can be (and should be) done with male characters as well. Jennifer Koosed discusses the story of Moses by pointing out his background – cultural customs, politics and gender norms at the time and how texts about him are interpreted. Koosed argues in her text that Moses does not completely embody only masculine traits when the context of his character is questioned. [1] “His gender shifts and changes—more ‘masculine’ as leader of the people and husband to his human wife, more ‘feminine’ in relationship to Yahweh—he is even cast as Yahweh’s wife.” [2] This is a very important realization to me: everything depends on the context it is related to. This week was especially interesting because it brought a completely new point of view – it is necessary to include men in the conversation about feminism and gender because the binary affects them as well and they deserve to have the space to talk about it as well. I really liked how Koosed explored the story of Moses, it was something completely new I have never learned before. It taught me that the way Koosed studied his character is a way every character should be studied and I will be adopting her methods when doing my own research.
[1] Koosed, Jennifer L. “Moses, Feminism, and The Male Subject.” In The Bible and Feminism: Remapping the Field, edited by Yvonne Sherwood. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017. Oxford Scholarship Online, 2018. doi: 10.1093/oso/9780198722618.003.0013.
[2] Ibid. 234.